Animal rescue group takes over shelter

Thursday

Mar 3, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 5, 2012 at 4:09 PM

City council passes emergency ordinance to shift control from SPD

Sarah Morris

The Stuttgart Animal Shelter is now a no-kill shelter.

The Stuttgart City Council approved an emergency ordinance Tuesday night that shifts control of the animal shelter from the Stuttgart Police Department to Grand Prairie Animal Rescue, Inc. (GPAR), a recently formed nonprofit that is in the process of receiving federal 501(c) status.

“It was so exciting. It is such a huge step for us,” Trinka Sherman, a Stuttgart resident who is one of six GPAR board members, said.

GPAR is a three-county animal rescue group whose goals include helping those who cannot afford to care for their animals and the promotion of pet spaying and neutering. GPAR works out of Arkansas, Lonoke and Prairie counties.

The City of Stuttgart has $66,260 budgeted for animal control in its 2011 fiscal year, of which $45,585 is spent on the animal control officer's salary, pension, FICA and Medicare tax, training and travel, uniform and worker's compensation.

According to the city's 2011 budget, the other $20,675 is spent on advertising, health, fire and casualty insurance, maintenance, repairs and supplies, medical, office expense, sales and use tax, utilities and miscellaneous.

The lease would have the organization leasing the shelter's property for $1 per year while being responsible for the housing, feeding, care and adoption services for all stray, abandoned and neglected dogs and cats brought in by the city's animal control officer.

He said, because of the ordinance, the animal control officer would mainly be in charge of answering calls and patrolling for the city's strays. However, further details are still being worked out and GPAR officials said they would soon have the shelter's key and start reorganizing it.

The ordinance, which is effective immediately, specifies that the organization will have the shelter open to the public on a regular published basis for adoptions and reclaiming pets.

“We are going to try to have it where it is posted and given out when open,” Belinda Holden, a Humnoke resident who is also on GPAR's board, said. “There will be someone there everyday. We want it to be more accessible to the public than it has been.”

She said GPAR's goal is to get the animals out of the shelter and into homes, whether locally or out-of-state.

The organization works with other various organizations, such as the Little Pink Shelter in Connecticut, to provide homes for southern animals in the New England area where northern residents are actively seeking pets.

Holden said GPAR was told that the animal shelter has a full house, and the organization already has about 20 dogs fostered out. It desperately needs residents who will volunteer to foster a dog.

“Sometimes we need to keep a dog out of the shelter for two weeks before it can be taken out-of-state for an adoption,” Holden said.

Volunteers and donations, such as bedding, food and leashes, are also greatly needed.